Starting at Place Saint-Lambert in Liege, heading south to Bastogne, and returning to Liege on a hillier route, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, now in it's 90th running, is the oldest of the classics, and the 5th round of the World Cup series.

The race is punctuated by 10 climbs, including the epic Redoute, most of them on the second leg of the race on the return journey to Liege, which features the lion's share of the climbing as it travels a circuitous route through the heart of the Ardennes in the French-speaking region of Belgium, making Liege the classic that favors an aggressive, attacking style, and offers the climbers an opportunity to shine.

The Parcours

Last year's Champion, American Tyler Hamilton takes the start again with his new Phonak team. Hamilton is a bit off the form he had this time last year, but not far off, as he comes to Liege just after a strong ride and some good preparation in the Tour of the Basque country. Hamilton is motivated to defend his title in Liege, but should he falter, Phonak will also have the able legs of another former Liege Champion, Oscar Carmenzind.

Gerolsteiner's Davide Rebellin, though, will be the most touted favorite with form that gave him double victories in Amstel Gold and Fleche Wallone. Rebellin isin a position to become the new World Cup leader with a strong performance in Liege, as well. Right behind him: Saeco's Danilo DiLuca, who wasn't far out of the action in Amstel, and placed 2nd in Fleche. QuickStep's Paolo Bettini can't be underestimated, Stefano Garzelli could show something here, and CSC's Michele Bartoli has been quiet thus far, but he's always a threat to break out a suprising ride. So much for the Italian contingent!

Rebellin celebrates in Amstel

T-Mobile brings an all-star line-up, featuring current World Cup leader, Steffan Wesemann. Wesemann will be hard put to defend his jersey in Liege, but he has vowed to fight, and hopes to find himself in the top 20. Wesemann's teammates Matthais Kessler and Alexander Vinokourov are both better suited to the hills of La Doyenne.

Former Liege vainquer QuickStep's Franck Vandenbrouke will carry the torch for the Belgians - if he's not out-gunned by his teammate - along with Peter Van Petegem, who's been strong all Spring long, and will have the support of Crazy Jane favorite Axel Merckx for Lotto.

Rabobank is stacked with Michael Boogerd, Erik Dekker, Marten Den Bakker, Oscar Friere, and Levi Leipheimer - not bad, and US Postal rides this classic while Armstrong whups some ass in Georgia, so they will look to Floyd Landis, but I could certainly see Michael Barry or Jurgen Van Den Broeck putting in a strong ride.

LIEGE NEWS ROUND-UP

Defending Champion, Tyler Hamilton

Tyler Hamilton Wants the Victory in Liège

Tyler Hamilton, the big star of the first-division Phonak Hearing Systems team, appears very confident going into Liège-Bastogne-Liège. He thinks he is capable of pulling off a repeat performance of his last year's victory. He also sees good chances for his teammates Oscar Camenzind and Oscar Pereiro.

Tyler Hamilton, in the 2003 road season you achieved the first, big season victory in the classic Liège-Bastogne-Liège race. Now the tough competition is waiting once again in front of the gates. Can we expect to see Tyler on the top step of the winner's podium once again?Of course it's my biggest goal to win this prestigious race again this year. I think our team has good chances of claiming another overall win. Especially with Oscar Pereiro, Oscar Camenzind and myself, we have several options.

What will be your tactic? Is it even possible to lay out a tactic here or do you have to wait for the race first of all and then make a decision based on the situation? I don't think that you can programme a specific tactic here in advance. Therefore, it's better to carefully follow how the race proceeds and observe how the competition is working. The last 20 kilometres are especially important. In the final phase it's a matter of being extremely careful and not let yourself be caught off guard. Complete concentration is required of every rider.

The individual World Cup races do not have the same status. Where would you rank Liège-Bastogne-Liège? I've been riding in this competition since 1997. It's my favorite test in the World Cup. For me, it has a very high status. It's the most difficult measure of strength in the high-stakes competition series. It has a very special character.

How satisfied are you with your current form? Is the conditioning going according to plan? I'm very satisfied with my form. Everything is going according to plan. My performances in the Basque Tour, especially in time trials, have shown this very clearly. I was able to present myself there in an extremely good light.

What can one say about the competition? I observe my competitors very closely. As a result, I definitely see that this field has to be ranked considerably stronger overall than last year's.

Phonak Hearing Systems is in the pleasant position of having two former winners of Liège-Bastogne-Liège with Tyler Hamilton and Oscar Camenzind. Would a role reversal be conceivable? Or do you consciously put yourself in the service of former world champion Camenzind? We absolutely have the option of appointing either one of us as the leader. In that way, we can decide during the race based on the situation. We're enough of pros that we recognize and support the ace with the better form as the leader. If Oscar Camenzind has the chance to win the race, I will put myself completely at his service. Of course we use a cleverly thought-out tactic for that and let our years of experience have some influence.

Matthais Kessler, Andreas Kloeden, Alexander Vinokourov and current W.C. leader Stephan Wesemann will all take to the hills in Liege-Bastogne-Liege. It's been 25 years since the victory of Dietrich Thurau in 1979 in Liege, and the T-Mobile boys are looking to update that statistic, and to place once again a German or at least a rider from a German team on the winner's podium of "La Doyenne"; the oldest of the Spring Classics.

"Kessler, Kloeden, and Vinokuorov and Klier have very good form. If
everything goes well, one of them can also win in Liege," reports a confident T-mobile Director Sportif Mario Kummer. "Our team has performed well in all spring classics thus far, and we want to show ourselves again on Sunday and close out this part of the season with a good result."

Wesemann, especially, has been strong this season with his victory in Flanders, and will be riding in defense of the World Cup leader's jersey. Wesemann is eager to wear the rainbow jersey in the first autumn classic in Hamburg in August, before German public.

Wesemann looking good in rainbows

"Actually, Liege was not planned for me, but if you're leading the world cup, naturally you want to defend the position. Therefore I will start with the goal of taking as many World Cup points as possible. It will difficult to
hold the lead, but the attempt is worthwhile in itself. I will fight to keep the jersey," promises Wesemann.

The World Cup leader, who spent the week preparing in Switzerland this past week is prepared and motivated: "I have mountains like the Ardennes outside my front door. The climbs in Liege-Bastogne-Liege might not be much of a problem for me," says Weseman, "but the competition is tough."

Jaksche Ready for Liége-Bastogne-Liége Team CSC reports that as expected, Jörg Jaksche is ready for Sunday's Liége-Bastogne-Liége after having passed the final medical-check on Saturday.

A week ago the German rider broke his elbow, but he has since then received treatment by Ole Kåre Føli. Jaksche has no high expectations in Liége-Bastogne-Liége, where Team CSC hopes for Ivan Basso, Michele Bartoli or Nicki Sørensen to perform well.

Last year Team CSC's Tyler Hamilton won the race after hard work by Sørensen and Carlos Sastre. Hamilton this year rides for Phonak and is, just like the winner of both Amstel Gold Race and Fléche Wallonne, Davide Rebellin, among the big favourites in 'La Doyenne'. Other main contenders are Danilo Di Luca, Paolo Bettini, Michael Boogerd, Michele Scarponi, Stefano Garzelli and the T-Mobile duo Alexandre Vinokourov and Matthias Kessler.